Google's UK Data Center Carbon Math Doesn't Add Up - By a Factor of Five

Planning documents for two massive Google data centers in Essex contain a significant error in how they calculate the projects' carbon impact, according to a review by the Guardian and the tech justice nonprofit Foxglove. The company wants to build a 52-hectare facility in Thurrock and another at North Weald airfield. In both cases, developers appear to have compared one year of the data center's emissions against the UK's entire five-year carbon budget, making the environmental footprint look five times smaller than it actually is. A third facility, Greystoke's Elsham Tech Park in Lincolnshire, made the same mistake.

Together, these three projects will account for over 1% of the UK's 2033 carbon budget - equivalent to the annual emissions of a city like Bristol. "Google has serious questions to answer about its dubious data center pollution figures," said Tim Squirrell, Foxglove's head of strategy. "Unless they can explain themselves, it looks like they are seriously misleading the council and the public. " Google's Thurrock site claimed its emissions would be 0.

033% of the UK's budgeted carbon footprint between 2028 and 2032; the actual figure is 0. 165%. The North Weald project similarly understated its share from 0. 043% to 0.

215%. Greystoke acknowledged the discrepancy, telling the Guardian it plans to submit revised figures. The errors come amid growing scrutiny of AI infrastructure's environmental cost. Last month, the Guardian revealed a tenfold gap between two UK government departments' estimates of future data center energy use.

Local councillor Steven Heather noted that North Weald has only outline planning permission, and the full submission will require corrected numbers. Google did not respond to requests for comment.

Source: The Guardian